


Can I help you

by Fatale (femme)



Series: Ave Atque Vale [4]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Vampire Alec Lightwood, simon + alec bros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 06:32:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13382163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/femme/pseuds/Fatale
Summary: “Izzy--” Alec says nonsensically.Simon straightens. “What about Izzy?”Alec leans tiredly against the open door. Simon pokes his head out, looks up and down the street. “Did you run here, wait, never mind. Of course you did. What about Izzy?”“She’s--I noticed gray hair. Just a few, but.” He bites his lip.Simon sags with relief. “Yeah, I saw,” he says. And he had, last week. It had made him feel sick, twisted up inside, something dark and sad sinking into the pit of his stomach, where he fears it’ll live for the rest of his life. As it should, he thinks. He doesn’t want to face the day when he won’t miss Izzy, or Clary, or his mom.





	Can I help you

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place years in the future after "Ave Atque Vale." catt021 wanted to see Alec and Simon being bros. I thought I was done with this series. Not so much!
> 
> Continued the trend of adding a small snippet at the end, which ended up becoming a mini ficlet by itself. Send help!

 

 

Simon’s just sitting down for a quiet evening of sweet O-Neg and crappy TV reruns, when someone bangs on his door. If it’s some major crisis in the downworld, then he’s out, nada, uh uh. If it’s Girl Scouts, he’s interested.

Instead of delicious Thin Mints, it’s Alec, chest heaving, eyes wild. He likes Alec reasonably well, they've certainly spent more time together than he thought they would when Simon first met him, the surly bastard. Enough to realize he’s actually incredibly loyal and really nice deep, deep down.

“Can I help you?” Simon asks, with trepidation. Alec doesn’t usually come by to chill. When he comes to visit, generally some new pants-shittingly horrifying thing has happened. Though what Alec thinks Simon can do that Mr. Tall Dark and Broody can't, he doesn’t know.

“Izzy--” Alec says nonsensically.

Simon straightens. “What about Izzy?”

Alec leans tiredly against the open door. Simon pokes his head out, looks up and down the street. “Did you run here, wait, never mind. Of course you did. What about Izzy?”

“She’s--I noticed gray hair. Just a few, but.” He bites his lip.

Simon sags with relief. “Yeah, I saw,” he says. And he had, last week. It had made him feel sick, twisted up inside, something dark and sad sinking into the pit of his stomach, where he fears it’ll live for the rest of his life. As it should, he thinks. He doesn’t want to face the day when he won’t miss Izzy, or Clary, or his mom.

He sighs, pulls Alec inside, where Alec sits on the couch, next to his cat, who gives them a baleful stare before jumping down.

“I was just, uh--” Simon holds up a bag of blood.

“That’s against the Accords--”

“Oh, shut up, you’re a downworlder now, everyone does it,” Simon says and pushes the bag into Alec’s hand. He shoves a large bag of Doritos at him. “Good combo.”

Alec makes a face and gingerly takes a bite. His eyebrows rise and he eats another, between taking small sips from the blood bag. His eyes flutter shut and his shoulders drop.

“How do you feel about reality TV?” Simon asks.

“Sad for humanity,” Alec mumbles.

“You’ve got jokes now,” Simon says and turns on a show about being naked in the city. Literally, just someone naked. In a random city.

So they sit there, passing a family sized bag of chips between them and slurping their bags noisily. It’s not profound, but it’s better than nothing.

Around the third episode, he hears Alec snore lightly. Simon picks the trash up, takes it directly outside to the bin for pickup the next morning. The sun is shining and it’s beautiful outside. It feels a little like a betrayal.

He doesn’t have the words for it, to describe the first time he noticed the fine lines around Clary’s mouth, or when he saw his sister, cheeks pink, slip on a pair of thick tortoiseshell reading glasses, the feeling of his friends and family slipping through his fingers like sand in a closed fist.

He goes inside, futilely tries to wipe the cat hair off his blanket before throwing it over Alec’s shoulders, and tucking it in around the edges, just like his mom used to do for him.

He starts to text Magnus to come and get Alec, then thinks better of it. He lets Magnus know Alec is with him and okay. They’re both going to be okay.

Alec needs time, just like he did, to feel whatever it is he needs to feel. Alec and Magnus are like, rock solid. They’re so fucking happy, they make Disney animals jealous. But Magnus has been around half a millennium and he’s done this countless times. He has learned how to let go. Simon and Alec haven’t.

He sits down on the couch next to where Alec is curled, impossibly small, and pulls the cover over himself, too, and settles in to sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Simon sees Magnus step out of a portal while Alec’s in the shower, washing Dorito dust off.  
> “I’m here to collect my husband.” He sounds amused.
> 
> Just as Simon’s opening his mouth to reply, Alec steps into the kitchen wearing the sweats and t-shirt he left out for him, which are hopelessly too large for Simon, by about three sizes. Simon is horrified to see that they still fit Alec so tightly, it’s obscene. 
> 
> “Not that I’m complaining,” Magnus says, “but why are you wearing Simon’s clothes?”
> 
> “We’re having an affair,” Simon says without thinking. “Two lonely daylighters looking for some comfort--”
> 
> “That’s not what’s happening,” Alec says.
> 
> “Would you believe he’s trying to crib my style? Super jealous. So unbecoming.” Simon’s babbling now, he doesn’t know why his mouth just runs of its own accord. Alec and Magnus are both capable of smashing Simon into a grease spot on the floor, Izzy will be so sad. 
> 
> But Magnus is watching Alec carefully, and Alec’s mouth is twitching into a small, tentative smile. 
> 
> Magnus turns to Simon, eyes shining, and says, “Thank you.”


End file.
